WHITE SETTLEMENT, Texas — 

A man who trained others in his Texas church to use guns to protect the congregation fatally shot a gunman seconds after he opened fire during a service, the Texas attorney general said Monday.

Jack Wilson fired a single shot, quickly ending the attack that killed two people at the West Freeway Church of Christ in the Fort Worth-area town of White Settlement. More than 240 congregants were in the church at the time.

Wilson’s bio on Facebook listed him as a former Hood County reserve deputy and a firearms instructor. He posted about the attack a few hours after it happened, saying the event “put me in a position that I would hope no one would have to be in. But evil exists, and I had to take out an active shooter in church. I’m thankful to GOD that I have been blessed with the ability and desire to serve him in the role of head of security at the church.”

Speaking outside the church, Texas Atty. Gen. Ken Paxton said authorities “can’t prevent mental illness from occurring, and we can’t prevent every crazy person from pulling a gun. But we can be prepared like this church was.”

Authorities have not identified the assailant, whose motive was under investigation.

Paxton joined other Texas officials in hailing the state’s gun laws, which allow weapons in places of worship. He said the church’s security team was formally organized after a measure was enacted this year that affirmed the right of licensed handgun holders to carry a weapon in places of worship, unless the facility bans them.

“The big emphasis came after they realized they are able to protect themselves,” Paxton said.

That law was passed in the aftermath of the deadliest mass shooting in Texas history, which was also at a church. In the 2017 massacre at First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, a man who opened fire on a Sunday morning congregation killed more than two dozen people. He later killed himself.

In another attack in Texas in 1999, a gunman killed seven people in Wedgwood Baptist Church in Fort Worth before detonating an explosive device and killing himself.

In a livestream of Sunday’s church service in White Settlement, the gunman can be seen getting up from a pew and talking to someone at the back of the church before pulling out a gun and opening fire. Congregants can be heard screaming and seen ducking under pews or running as papers fly to the floor.

“I think you can see by the video, that that guy was surrounded rather quickly by more than just a few people,” Paxton said.

Isabel Arreola told the Star-Telegram that she sat near the gunman and that she had never seen him before the service. She said he appeared to be wearing a disguise, perhaps a fake beard, and that he made her uncomfortable.

She said the man stood up, pulled a shotgun from his clothing, opened fire and was quickly shot.

“I was so surprised because I did not know that so many in the church were armed,” she said.

Sunday’s shooting was the second attack on a religious gathering in the U.S. in less than 24 hours. On Saturday night, a man stabbed five people as they celebrated Hanukkah in an Orthodox Jewish community north of New York City.

Prior to the shooting, the gunman had drawn the attention of the church’s security team because he was “acting suspiciously,” minister Jack Cummings told the New York Times. He said the team is composed of congregants who are licensed to carry guns and practice shooting regularly.

Cummings said the church added the team because of “the fact that people go into schools and shoot people.”

The Texas Department of Public Safety on Monday identified the dead as Anton Wallace, 64, of Fort Worth and Richard White, 67, of suburban River Oaks.

Wallace’s daughter, Tiffany Wallace, told Dallas TV station KXAS that her father was a deacon at the church and had just served Communion when the gunman approached him.

“I ran toward my dad, and the last thing I remember is him asking for oxygen. And I was just holding him, telling him I loved him and that he was going to make it,” Wallace said.

Her father was rushed to a hospital but did not survive, she said.

“You just wonder why? How can someone so evil, the devil, step into the church and do this?” she said.

White’s daughter-in-law, Misty York White, called him a hero on Facebook: “You stood up against evil and sacrificed your life. Many lives were saved because of your actions. You have always been a hero to us but the whole world is seeing you as a hero now. We love you, we miss you, we are heartbroken.”

An elder at the church told the Times that one of those killed was a security guard who responded to the shooter.

“He was trying to do what he needed to do to protect the rest of us,” said the elder, Mike Tinius.

The gunman was killed within six seconds of opening fire, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said. The quick reaction saved an “untold number of lives.”

Britt Farmer, senior minister of the church, said, “We lost two great men today, but it could have been a lot worse.”

The FBI was working to determine the shooter’s motive. Matthew DeSarno, the agent in charge of the agency’s Dallas office, said the assailant was “relatively transient” but had roots in the area.

Paxton said Monday that the shooter appeared to be “more of a loner.” “I don’t think he had a lot of connections to very many people,” he said.

DeSarno also said the gunman had been arrested multiple times in the past but declined to give details.

Church officials planned to make a statement Monday evening following a closed meeting and prayer vigil just for church members, Farmer said.

White Settlement’s website says it was named by local Native Americans in the 1800s for white families then settling in the area. City leaders who worried that the name detracted from the city’s image proposed renaming it in 2005, but voters overwhelmingly rejected the idea.

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MOSCOW — 

Twenty years ago on New Year’s Eve, Lucia and Alexander Orlov had gathered a dozen or so family and friends around a table full of food, wine and vodka to ring in the year 2000 in their central Moscow apartment.

New Year’s Eve is Russia’s biggest holiday. It’s a family affair, when Russia’s version of Santa Claus, Grandfather Frost, puts gifts under a decorated tree and children stay up late as their parents toast the new year with Champagne.

The evening of Dec. 31, 1999, had been full of such traditions, including Lucia Orlov’s Olivier salad (a mixture of potatoes, carrots, onions, meat, pickles and mayonnaise — lots of mayonnaise) and the exchange of gifts. At midnight, the state channel aired its annual live shot of the clock on the Spasskaya Tower of the Kremlin ringing 12 times. As the tradition goes, any wish made between the first and last chime will be granted.

The Orlovs, who are approaching 50, and most of their guests that night had already lived through monumental change: the aftermath of World War II and then the Cold War; shortages and cramped living in a communal apartment; the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991; and almost a decade of painful economic reforms.

So the last tradition of the night, the annual presidential New Year’s address, came with a “very pleasant surprise,” Lucia Orlov said.

Boris Yeltsin, in a pre-recorded speech filmed at his Kremlin desk, said he was tired: “I am leaving.” Russia’s first president announced he was resigning after two terms overseeing the country’s difficult transition from communism to a free-market economy

Orlov said she and her guests let out a unanimous “hurrah!” and clinked their Champagne glasses.

Yeltsin then announced he was appointing his little-known prime minister, Vladimir Putin, as his temporary replacement until the next presidential election, in March.

Putin has been in power ever since, as either president or prime minister. He has done so in large part by assuring Russians like the Orlovs that even as the economy has weakened in the last five years and the West has tried to isolate him for Moscow’s annexation of Crimea, the prosperity and stability he has brought to the country continues to make up for all they endured doing the tumultuous 1990s.

“I wasn’t very familiar with Putin when Yeltsin said his name,” Orlov said. But she was happy to see Yeltsin go. He had embarrassed Russians with his humiliating drunken episodes in public and economic reforms that had left them all on their knees, she said.

“Stability is a lot for people like us after surviving so much,” she said.

During Putin’s first two terms, Russia’s economy grew, thanks to an increase in global oil and gas prices starting in 2004. This fueled a consumer boom and raised living standards. The Orlovs were able to remodel parts of their apartment and buy another one a few metro stops away for their son.

Putin used Russia’s economic success to propel his country back onto the world stage. Russia joined the G8 in 2006, and Putin hosted its annual meeting in his hometown of St. Petersburg. The country won bids to host the 2014 Winter Olympics and then the soccer World Cup in 2018.

At the same time, Putin tightened his grip on power at home via a gradual crackdown on civil society and media. He dominated state media newscasts, appearing shirtless on Siberian fishing trips and visiting factories to shake hands with obedient managers. Potential political opponents never had a chance because the state-controlled media rarely mentioned their names.

He seemed to be speaking directly to constituents like the Orlovs in 2005 when he called the collapse of the Soviet Union the “greatest geopolitical catastrophe” of the 20th century.

“After Yeltsin, Russians wanted to be respected again,” Orlov said. “There were a lot of things achieved during the Soviet Union.”

Putin maintained a high approval rating that ebbed and flowed over the years but never dropped below 64%. High oil prices kept him popular, and Russians were living better than they ever had.

Determined to restore Russia’s status as a great power, Putin began a campaign of expansionism abroad. He sent his military to Syria, where the American presence was on the decline. He talked about Russia’s sphere of influence, particularly in former Soviet republics like Ukraine. In 2014, after a mass street protest overthrew a Moscow-friendly government in Ukraine, Putin sent Russian soldiers into the Crimean Peninsula, which had been part of Ukraine since the 1950s. Russia annexed Crimea in March 2014.

Putin’s approval ratings shot up to 89% as patriotic fervor swept across the country. Led by the United States, the West imposed harsh economic sanctions on Russia and booted it out of the G8. The sanctions were ratcheted up after Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. But Russians hailed Putin as the man who was making Russia a great power again.

“They can try to make it a political question, but Crimea is ours,” Orlov said. “Historically, it has always been ours.”

To a certain extent, Russia is back at the global negotiating table, said Nina Jankowicz, a fellow at the Wilson Center, a think tank in Washington. “Even though [Russia’s] economy is a fraction of the other countries that are there,” she said, leaders such as French President Emmanuel Macron “are even floating inviting Russia back to the G7.” (The Group of 8 industrialized nations became the G7 after Russia left.)

Putin was reelected for his fourth term in March 2018 as global oil prices and the Western sanctions began to hit the domestic economy. Economists said Russia was too dependent on its oil and gas exports and that Putin had done little to diversify the economy.

“He built an economy that works just fine for him and his elites who can afford Western standards of living and access to modern healthcare,” said Vladimir Frolov, an independent foreign affairs analyst in Moscow. “For the rest of the country, it perpetuates stagnation and Latin American living standards with Third World healthcare.”

But Russia’s economy remains stable, albeit with slow growth, which has been resilient to external shocks and runs low on debt, Frolov said. “It is Putinomics.”

Economic growth is expected to slow to 1.7% by 2024, half what it was in 2013, according to the International Monetary Fund. Russians’ real incomes are on the decline, by some estimates as much as 10% in the last five years.

Alexander Orlov, 70, said he continued to work as a professor at Moscow State University despite being 10 years past the eligible age to retire. His work teaching physical mathematics is “essential for his soul,” his wife said. “It is simply who he is.”

She admitted there was no way they could survive on just their pensions. Inflation has eaten away at their incomes.

“If it’s hard for us in Moscow,” she said, “just imagine what it would be like in the provincial cities, where pensions are even lower.”

With a weakening economy in the background, discontent has begun spilling into the streets in the form of protests across Russia on political and environmental issues. Police crackdowns have resulted in jail sentences for dozens of demonstrators.

“Putin has created the impression that Russia matters more on the world stage, and part of it is true. Russia is not weak. But neither it is strong,” Frolov said. “It punches above its weight only because Putin does not face any internal constraints on his decision making and can do whatever he pleases. Unlike George Bush or Barack Obama, he can afford to do stupid things without the risk of being voted out of power.”

Orlov, who remains a strong supporter of Putin, is concerned about the societal inequalities. She’s angry about pervasive corruption in the country. But she thinks protests are not the way to go.

Putin will have four more years to address Orlov’s concerns before his fourth term comes to an end in 2024. The Russian Constitution limits presidents to two consecutive terms.

Speculation about what Putin will do next started swirling the moment after his reelection. Would he change the constitution to allow him to run again? Would he do as he did in 2008, when he became prime minister for two years, and then return to the presidency? Would he follow the example of Kazakhstan, where former President Nursultan Nazarbayev created an eternal role as father of the nation?

“I am sure there are people we don’t know about who are being groomed for this role behind the scenes,” Orlov said when asked who could replace Putin. Let them change the constitution if they have to or do what needs to be done, she said.

Just no more big upheavals, please, she said.

WASHINGTON — 

As a candidate for the White House, Donald Trump repeatedly promised that he would “immediately” replace President Obama’s healthcare law with a plan of his own that would provide “insurance for everybody.”

Back then, Trump made it sound as if his plan — “much less expensive and much better” than the Affordable Care Act — was imminent. And he put drug companies on notice that their pricing power no longer would be “politically protected.”

Nearly three years after Trump took office, Americans still are waiting for the president’s big health insurance reveal. Prescription drug prices have edged lower, but with major legislation stuck in Congress it’s unclear if that relief is the start of a trend or merely a blip.

Meantime the uninsured rate has gone up on Trump’s watch, rising in 2018 for the first time in nearly a decade to 8.5% of the population, or 27.5 million people, according to the Census Bureau.

“Every time Trump utters the words ACA or Obamacare, he ends up frightening more people,” said Andy Slavitt, who served as acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services during the Obama administration. He’s “deepening their fear of what they have to lose.”

White House officials argue that the president is improving the healthcare system in other ways, without dismantling private healthcare.

White House spokesman Judd Deere noted Trump’s signing of the Right to Try Act that allows some patients facing life-threatening diseases to access unapproved treatment, revamping the U.S. kidney donation system and the FDA approving more generic drugs as key improvements. Trump has also launched a drive to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

“The president’s policies are improving the American healthcare system for everyone, not just those in the individual market,” Deere said.

But as Trump gears up for his reelection campaign, the lack of a healthcare plan is an issue that Democrats believe they can use against him, particularly since he’s still seeking to overturn Obamacare in court.

This month, a federal appeals court struck down the ACA’s individual mandate, the requirement that Americans carry health insurance, but sidestepped a ruling on the law’s overall constitutionality. The attorneys general of Texas and 18 other Republican-led states filed the underlying lawsuit, which was defended by Democrats and the U.S. House. Texas argued that because of the unlawfulness of the individual mandate, Obamacare must be entirely scrapped.

Trump welcomed the ruling as a major victory. Texas vs. United States appears destined to be taken up by the Supreme Court, potentially teeing up a constitutional showdown before the 2020 presidential election.

In a letter Monday to Democratic lawmakers, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi singled out the court case. “The Trump administration continues to firmly support the recent ruling in the 5th Circuit, which they hope will move them one step closer to obliterating every protection and benefit of the Affordable Care Act,” Pelosi wrote, urging Democrats to keep healthcare front and center in 2020.

Accused of trying to dismantle his predecessor’s healthcare law with no provision for millions who depend on it, Trump and senior administration officials have periodically teased that a plan was just around the corner.

In August, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Seema Verma, said officials were “actively engaged in conversations and working on things,” while Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway suggested that same month an announcement was on the horizon.

In June, Trump told ABC News that he’d roll out his “phenomenal healthcare plan” in a couple of months, and that it would be a central part of his reelection pitch.

The country is still waiting. Meantime Trump officials say the administration has made strides by championing transparency on hospital prices, pursuing a range of actions to curb prescription drug costs, and expanding lower-cost health insurance alternatives for small businesses and individuals.

One of Trump’s small business options — association health plans — is tied up in court. And taken together, the administration’s health insurance options are modest when compared with Trump’s original goal of rolling back the ACA.

Since Trump has not come through on his promise of a big plan, internecine skirmishes among 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls have largely driven the healthcare debate in recent months.

Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are leading the push among liberals for a “Medicare for all” plan that would effectively end private health insurance while more moderate candidates, like Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar, advocate for what they contend is a more attainable expansion of Medicare.

Brad Woodhouse, a former Democratic National Committee official and executive director of the Obamacare advocacy group Protect Our Care, said it is important for Democrats to “put down the knives they’ve been wielding against one another on healthcare.”

“Instead turn their attention to this president and Republicans who are trying to take it away,” Woodhouse counseled.

Some Democratic hopefuls appear to be doing just that.

During a campaign stop in Memphis, Tenn., this month, former New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg called out Trump on healthcare, saying the president is “determined to throw Americans off the boat, without giving them a lifeline.”

Polling suggests Trump’s failure to follow through on his promise to deliver a revamped healthcare system could be a drag on his reelection effort.

Voters have consistently named healthcare as one of their highest concerns in polling. And more narrowly, a recent Gallup-West Health poll found that 66% of adults believe the Trump administration has made little or no progress curtailing prescription drug costs.

Prescription drug prices did drop 1% in 2018, according to nonpartisan experts at U.S. Health and Human Services.

That was the first such price drop in 45 years, driven by declines for generic drugs, which account for nearly 9 out of 10 prescriptions dispensed. Prices continued to rise for brand-name drugs, although at a more moderate pace.

Trump’s broadsides against the pharmaceutical industry might well have helped check prices, though drug companies have been hammered by every major Democrat as well as many Republican lawmakers.

Trump says a health insurance overhaul can be done in a second term if voters give him a Republican Congress as well as a reelection win.

But Trump and the GOP had that chance when they were in full control and unable to deliver, because Republicans don’t agree among themselves.

Trump could still score a big win on prescription drugs before the 2020 election. He’s backing a bipartisan Senate bill that would limit what Medicare recipients pay out of pocket for their medicines and require drug companies to pay rebates to the government if they increase prices above inflation.

Passing it would require the cooperation of Pelosi, harshly criticized by Trump over impeachment.

LA PAZ, Bolivia — 

Bolivia’s interim president says her government is expelling the top Mexican and Spanish diplomats in the country over an alleged attempt by members of Bolivia’s former government to leave their refuge in the Mexican Embassy with Spanish help and flee the country.

Spain expelled three Bolivian officials Monday in response.

Interim President Jeanine Áñez said Ambassador María Teresa Mercado, the Spanish charge d’affaires and the Spanish consul were all declared persona non grata and given 72 hours to leave the country.

The incident centers around a group of nine former officials in the government of deposed Bolivian President Evo Morales who sought refuge in the Mexican Embassy after Morales stepped down under pressure last month.

The acting Bolivian government has charged the former officials with sedition, terrorism and electoral fraud and has refused to allow them safe passage out of the country.

The Bolivian government has accused Spanish diplomats of trying to help the nine officials leave the Mexican Embassy on Friday and says the Spaniards arrived at the embassy accompanied by a group of hooded Spanish security agents. Spain has denied the charges.

“A serious violation has been committed against Bolivian sovereignty and democracy, which must be respected,” Áñez said.

Six Spanish security officials departed Bolivia on Sunday after the Bolivian government asked them to leave.

Spain’s interim government said Monday that it was expelling three Bolivian diplomats accredited in Spain in response to Bolivia’s “hostile gesture.”

It said that Spain “categorically rejects any hint about the alleged willingness to interfere in the internal political affairs of Bolivia” and called the allegations “conspiracy theories.”

A police union in Spain said that the agents from the national police force’s Special Operations Group, which provides diplomatic security, were partially masked Friday to protest their identities for their own security, a routine precaution.

The Mexican government said its diplomats in Bolivia had followed the principles of Mexican foreign policy and international law.

“We consider this to be a political decision,” the government said in a written statement.

Later, Mexico’s Interior Secretary Olga Sánchez Cordero said the relationship between the two governments remained “tense.”

She said Mercado was recalled for her personal safety, but the embassy would continue operating normally and there was no intention of breaking off diplomatic relations with Bolivia.

As for the nine Bolivians staying at the Mexican Embassy, Sánchez Cordero said they had requested political asylum and Mexico had told them it was open to that possibility.

“Of course we’re going to protect them,” she said during a news conference Monday. “While they are in the Mexican Embassy, they are in Mexican territory.”

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I believe in the rule of three. Within a narrow space of time I suffered Stage 4 lymphoma, beating the odds by surviving, and was strongly encouraged, albeit with financial incentives, to take early retirement. Then, my marriage ended.

Armed with the temporary immunity that comes with the rule of three, it was time to reenter the dating pool. (Spoiler alert: As you start your sixth decade, the water is much colder. Difficult icebreakers replace the easy familiarity of youth.)

Fortunately, the harshness of that reality was buffered by the virtual world of online dating. It turns out I loved the efficiency of Match.com, Plenty of Fish and other online options. I also believe a relationship is based on the two Cs: chemistry and compatibility. Of the two, compatibility is the hardest. After a few minutes, attraction is obvious, but it takes a few dates to determine a possible good fit.

That’s where the efficiency of online dating excels. I could waste a lifetime meeting 500 women, selecting those with mutual attraction and going out on dates with each. By contrast, I could review 500 profiles in the time it would take to read a short novel.

I set about taking my task seriously, setting priorities and moving quickly past anyone who didn’t make the cut.

My criteria started with basic intelligence: Can someone string a couple of coherent sentences together? I wanted someone politically liberal, not religious, socially aware and open to other cultures, both through travel, and locally, by exploring ethnic cuisines. (As a devout carnivore, I had to rule out vegans and vegetarians.) My search narrowed: 500 women quickly became around 30, of which 10 women responded. Ten is a manageable number.

I went on a couple of dates that did not work out. No horror stories, but no magic either.

One profile, though, fired my imagination.

Roslyn checked all the boxes. And she was beautiful. I plodded on the keyboard with as much wit and charm as I could muster. We corresponded for a few weeks and advanced to phone calls.

After about five weeks, she agreed to meet in Thai Town. The food was good, the conversation better. I was amazed at how much a white Jewish boy from the Valley had in common with a black Motown transplant who’d been raised Baptist.

I ended the night looking forward to our second date. But there was just one problem.

Roslyn had two jobs, auditioning as an actress (with the usual percentage of callbacks), and working as a personal assistant. Actually, she had three jobs. Shortly after our first date, her hours were cut back and she began working at a pharmacy.

Each time I called her, the conversation flowed, but she was always too tired to go out.

I tried again and again. It was all testing my persistence, my confidence and, ultimately, my ingenuity. I would suggest dinner, or movies. Nothing moved the needle.

Two months passed, and still no second date with Roslyn.

Maybe I needed to take a hint?

Now, when I was growing up, my family owned a jewelry store. During the busy Christmas season, I worked at the store, sometimes as much as 60 hours a week. Like most retail stores, the floor was concrete covered with linoleum.

Standing all day took its toll, particularly on my feet.

I wondered if Roslyn was feeling the same.

I decided to give it one last try. I called Roslyn and asked her if she wanted to go to the San Gabriel Valley for a foot massage and hot pot.

I had her at foot massage.

We finished the evening with Taiwanese shaved ice, and we never looked back. (I learned to supplement our trips to the SGV with my own, less trained, fingers.)

About a year later, for her birthday, we drove up to Santa Ynez to sample the fruits of the vine and check on a thoroughbred at a horse farm. For the trip, I bought sandwiches at the justly revered Mario’s deli in Glendale (turkey and provolone for her, a spicy soppressata for me). I planned to propose when we stopped for lunch. And plan I did.

I thought she might be on to me, so I tried to gain some element of surprise by pretending I was prepared to stop at any old place and haul out the lunch basket. (Meanwhile, I had carefully charted out romantic locations all up the coast.) Hiding my nerves, I would periodically ask if she was feeling hungry.

By the time her appetite flowered, mine had nearly shriveled.

We finally pulled off at Arroyo Burro Beach in Santa Barbara County. We parked; I retrieved lunch. I also had a box loaded with gag birthday gifts. The ring box was at the very bottom.

I got down on one knee and proposed.

And after she helped me up, she said yes.

The author has been married for six years. He is a writer and retired attorney.

Straight, gay, bisexual, transgender or nonbinary: L.A. Affairs chronicles the search for love in and around Los Angeles — and we want to hear your story. You must allow your name to be published, and the story you tell has to be true. We pay $300 for each essay we publish. Email us at [email protected]. You can find submission guidelines here.

The former Spurs striker expects the new boss in north London to bolster his ranks in January, with centre-half an area in need of reinforcement

Jose Mourinho will take Tottenham into the January transfer market, says Darren Bent, with the Portuguese expected to seek reinforcements for a leaky defensive unit.

Spurs have improved under the guidance of a proven coach, with the decision taken to part with Mauricio Pochettino’s services in November.

Clean sheets are proving to be elusive, though, with Mourinho struggling to replicate the efforts which have made his teams watertight in the past.

An opportunity to address those failings is about to present itself, with Spurs among those being tipped to splash the cash in early 2020.

Former striker Bent believes another reliable option is required at centre-half despite Belgium international Toby Alderweireld committing to a new contract in north London.

Bent told talkSPORT of Mourinho’s recruitment plans: “He can only work with what he’s got.

“He’s managed to obviously turn Toby and get him to sign a new contract, so he likes him as a defender and believes that he can improve them at the back.

“But I think in January he’s going to have to dip into that transfer market and get someone in because at one stage I used to look at Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen and think defensively that partnership is one of the strongest in the Premier League.

“Now, both of them have lost a little bit of legs you’d have to say, obviously age comes to everyone.

“Vertonghen’s had big injuries so maybe that’s playing a part as well.

“I think he will definitely dip into that transfer market and try and bring a defender in and maybe even a full-back.

“Listen, Spurs at the minute, going forward they’ve got no issues whatsoever.

“They’ve got Son [Heung-min] when he comes back from suspension, [Harry] Kane, [Dele] Alli, [Christian] Eriksen, [Erik] Lamela, these guys can make the difference.

“I think [Ryan] Sessegnon, the more he plays the better he’ll get.

“But defensively they can’t be having to score two, three goals to even get a point.”

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Bent believes that departures could aid Mourinho’s cause when it comes to freeing up funds and space in his squad, with it possible that a Colombian defender could be moved on.

The ex-England striker added: “Well someone’s going to have to go.

“Obviously [Juan] Foyth hasn’t really played too much, that’s a position there.

“You have to say he doesn’t really fancy Davinson Sanchez.

“I think when he was at United and they played against Ajax I think it was, he even targeted letting Sanchez have the ball, now he’s in charge of him. So I think obviously that’s another area.”

La célébrité n’a pas toujours été facile à gérer pour Diam’s. Aussi adorée que détestée, la jeune femme a été cambriolée à plusieurs reprises et a longtemps été harcelée par un homme dangereux qui menaçait de la tuer.

Au sommet de la gloire au début des années 2000, Diam’s ne voyait pas la vie en rose pour autant. Et pour cause, l’ancienne rappeuse a traversé des épreuves très difficiles, comme en témoigne son amie de longue date Nawell Madani, qui figurait dans le clip du très célèbre titre DJ. “Il faut savoir que Mélanie a vécu beaucoup de choses, a confié l’humoriste à Purepeople, à l’occasion d’un live Facebook. Elle s’est fait cambrioler plusieurs fois, elle a eu des menaces de mort, il y a eu un jeune homme qui la suivait partout et qui lui disait : ‘Tu vas mourir avec moi.’ Diam’s était seule, elle était en dépression, elle a vécu des moments durs.“

Tant d’intants douloureux auxquels Diam’s a décidé de mettre un terme en quittant définitivement l’industrie musicale et en s’accrochant à la spiritualité et plus précisément à l’Islam. “Elle est restée la même : rigolote, généreuse…, a ajouté Nawell Madani, qui a l’occasion de la revoir de temps à autre. C’est une femme libre. Elle a fait ses choix, personne ne les lui a dictés, elle sait ce qu’elle veut.” Sept ans après la fin de sa carrière, Diam’s semble d’ailleurs plus épanouie que jamais. Devenue maman de deux enfants, elle œuvre désormais dans l’humanitaire via son association Big Up Project.

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Jean d’Ormesson était papa d’une fille, Héloïse d’Ormesson. Passionnée de littérature, elle a créé en 2004 une maison d’édition qui porte son nom, avec laquelle elle a publié les livres de son père, mais aussi de Tatiana de Rosnay, ou bien encore Georges Frêche.

Jean d’Ormesson est décédé dans la nuit de lundi 4 au mardi 5 décembre, à l’âge de 92 ans. L’Académicien auteur de La gloire de l’empire, Histoire du juif errant, ou encore Je dirai malgré tout que cette vie fut belle laisse derrière lui des monuments de littérature. Durant sa vie, l’Immortel a transmis sa passion pour les livres à sa fille, Héloïse. Celle-ci, âgée de 55 ans, a travaillé durant dix ans chez Flammarion, puis six ans aux éditions Denoël.

Elle est désormais à la tête de la maison d’édition qui porte son nom, créée en 2004 aux côtés de son compagnon Gilles Cohen-Solal, et qui publie des écrivains tels qu’Isabelle Alonso, Tatiana de Rosnay, le politique Georges Frêche, Damien Luce, le frère du chanteur Ronan Luce, ou encore, bien sûr, son papa, Jean d’Ormesson. “Publier son père n’est pas anodin. A l’origine, je ne le souhaitais pas, mais cela s’est trouvé naturellement, une fois la maison établie. Cela a été un grand bonheur de travailler ensemble. Cette relation éditoriale nous a permis de nous rapprocher plus encore“, confiait-elle dans une interview accordée pour Babelio en 2015.

L’ambition de l’éditrice : publier peu – une vingtaine de titres par an seulement -, mais publier mieux. La maison d’édition Héloïse d’Ormesson a été le sujet d’un reportage Strip-Tease en 2009, comme l’a rapporté L’Express, dans lequel Gilles Cohen-Solal s’était fait remarquer par les téléspectateurs pour ses petites provocations.

Crédits photos : COADIC GUIREC / BESTIMAGE

Claude Chirac veille sur l’image de son père aujourd’hui, comme elle l’a toujours fait, depuis l’époque où elle a décidé de travailler avec lui à la fin des années 80.

Le photographe Eric Lefeuvre qui publie le livre « Jacques Chirac. Coulisses d’un destin » (Editions La Martinière) a travaillé trente ans auprès du clan Chirac. Il salue le professionnalisme de sa fille cadette, même s’il avoue avoir aussi été victime de son perfectionnisme absolu. « Claude préférait ne pas communiquer plutôt que de prendre le risque de faire une erreur » témoigne-t-il, « et elle était capable de retoquer une de mes photos parce que sur le cliché son père avait un faux pli sur sa chemise. Tout ce qui le concernait devait être parfait. Elle voulait que son empreinte demeure. Après son élection à la présidence de la République, elle m’a dit : « tes photos vont compter dans 20 ans ».

Bernadette n’a pas dit autre chose à Jacques Chirac, dans la voiture qui les conduisait à l’Elysée : « Maintenant, il va falloir entrer dans l’histoire », lui aurait-elle lancé.Combien de fois, le photographe Eric Lefeuvre n’a-t-il pas entendu Jacques Chirac interroger : « où est Claude ? » ou encore « où est Bernadette ? ». Il n’a jamais vu par contre le président se disputer avec sa fille, si ce n’est ce soir du second tour de l’élection présidentielle de 2007, dans le bureau présidentiel. Il était 18h30 et Jacques Chirac, les premières estimations sous les yeux, voulait téléphoner à Nicolas Sarkozy, pour le féliciter de sa victoire. « Claude s’y opposait et le ton est monté ».

Jamais du reste ce compagnon de route n’a entendu la fille du président l’appeler « papa ». Pas de gestes tendres échangés entre eux non plus. Pas plus qu’avec Bernadette Chirac. Leur connivence passait plutôt par un humour pince-sans-rire et des boutades à foison. (…) « Tous les trois sont comme des atomes qui se décomposent parfois mais se recomposent toujours. Comme aimantés », philosophe le photographe. En juillet 2016, il a été invité dans les bureaux de l’ancien chef de l’Etat pour une petite fête privée. Il a fait quelques clichés. Les derniers. « Il n’y aura plus de photos » a précisé Claude Chirac. Elle ne souhaite pas que l’image de son père vieillissant vienne ternir la légende qu’elle et sa mère ont passé leur vie à bâtir. Et les légendes n’ont pas d’âge. (…)

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Crédits photos : Bestimage

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De nombreuses personnalités se sont déplacées à la Madeleine pour assister à la cérémonie hommage à Johnny Hallyday. Beaucoup de proches également, notamment ses précédentes épouses avant Laeticia : Nathalie Baye, Sylvie Vartan. En revanche, l’absence d’une autre femme avec laquelle il s’est marié, par deux fois, ne passe pas inaperçue : celle d’Adeline Blondieau.

Emmanuel Macron, Brigitte Macron, Julie Gayet au bras de François Hollande, Eddy Mitchell, Marion Cotillard, sans parler de la famille proche, Laeticia, Nathalie Baye, Sylvie Vartan et tant d’autres… on ne compte plus les personnalités qui ont fait le déplacement à l’église de la Madeleine pour rendre un dernier hommage à Johnny Hallyday. Il y a pourtant une absence qui fait parler et qui ne passe pas inaperçue : celle d’Adeline Blondieau, l’une des femmes de sa vie, qu’il a même épousée deux fois.

Il faut dire que leur histoire s’est très mal terminée. Johnny et Adeline se sont mariés en 1990 puis divorcent en 1992 avant de se remarier en 1994. Ils rompent définitivement en 1995. Mais près de vingt ans plus tard, Adeline Blondieau accuse Johnny de l’avoir violée quand elle avait douze ans. Il a toujours nié.

Aujourd’hui âgée de 46 ans, Adeline sait que sa présence auprès de la famille de Johnny pourrait lui être reprochée. Tout comme d’éventuelles déclarations. Plus que des mots, elle a choisi une manière très discrète de rendre hommage à cet homme qu’elle a malgré tout aimé : le jour du décès de Johnny, elle a mis un carré noir en photo de profil de son compte Facebook. Preuve qu’Adeline a été touchée par la mort du chanteur.

Crédits photos : starface